Packet Tracer - Investigate Unicast, Broadcast, and Multicast Traffic

Topology

Objectives
Part 1: Generate Unicast Traffic
Part 2: Generate Broadcast Traffic
Part 3: Investigate Multicast Traffic
Background / Scenario
This activity will examine unicast, broadcast, and multicast behavior. Most
traffic in a network is unicast. When a PC sends an ICMP echo request to a
remote router, the source address in the IP packet header is the IP address of
the sending PC. The destination address in the IP packet header is the IP
address of the interface on the remote router. The packet is sent only to the
intended destination.
Using the ping command or the Add Complex PDU feature of Packet Tracer, you
can directly ping broadcast addresses to view broadcast traffic.
For multicast traffic, you will view EIGRP traffic. EIGRP is used by Cisco routers
to exchange routing information between routers. Routers using EIGRP send
packets to multicast address 224.0.0.10, which represents the group of EIGRP
routers. Although these packets are received by other devices, they are dropped
at Layer 3 by all devices except EIGRP routers, with no other processing
required.

2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public.

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Packet Tracer - Investigate Unicast, Broadcast, and Multicast Traffic

Part 1: Generate Unicast Traffic

Step 1:

Use ping to generate traffic.

a. Click PC1 and click the Desktop tab > Command Prompt.
b. Enter the ping 10.0.3.2 command. The ping should succeed.
Step 2:

Enter Simulation mode.

a. Click the Simulation tab to enter Simulation mode.

b. Click Edit Filters and verify that only ICMP and EIGRP events are selected.
c. Click PC1 and enter the ping 10.0.3.2 command.
Step 3:

Examine unicast traffic.

The PDU at PC1 is an ICMP echo request intended for the serial interface on
Router3.
a. Click Capture/Forward repeatedly and watch while the echo request is sent
to Router3 and the echo reply is sent back to PC1. Stop when the first echo
reply reaches PC1.
Which devices did the packet travel through with the unicast transmission?
From PC1 to Switch1 to Router1 to Router3 and back.
b. In the Simulation Panel Event List section, the last column contains a colored
box that provides access to detailed information about an event. Click the
colored box in the last column for the first event. The PDU Information
window opens.
What layer does this transmission start at and why?
Layer 3, because it is dealing specifically with ip and icmp.
c. Examine the Layer 3 information for all of the events. Notice that both the
source and destination IP addresses are unicast addresses that refer to PC1
and the serial interface on Router3.
What two changes take place at Layer 3 when the packet arrives at Router3?
The source and destination IP address are flipped and the ICMP message
type is now 0.
d. Click Reset Simulation.

2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public.

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Packet Tracer - Investigate Unicast, Broadcast, and Multicast Traffic

Part 2: Generate Broadcast Traffic

Step 1:

Add a complex PDU.

a. Click Add Complex PDU. The icon for this is in the right toolbar and shows
an open envelope.
b. Float the mouse cursor over the topology and the pointer changes to an
envelope with a plus (+) sign.
c. Click PC1 to serve as the source for this test message and the Create
Complex PDU dialog window opens. Enter the following values:

Destination IP Address: 255.255.255.255 (broadcast address)

Sequence Number: 1

One Shot Time: 0

Within the PDU settings, the default for Select Application: is PING. What
are at least 3 other applications available for use?
DNS, HTTP, PING, POP3, FTP, TFTP, TELNET, SSH, SMTP, SFTP, SNMP.
Click Create PDU. This test broadcast packet now appears in the
Simulation Panel Event List. It also appears in the PDU List window. It is
the first PDU for Scenario 0.
d. Click Capture/Forward twice. This packet is sent to the switch and then
broadcasted to PC2, PC3, and Router1. Examine the Layer 3 information
for

all

of

the

events.

Notice

that

the

destination

IP

address

is

255.255.255.255, which is the IP broadcast address you configured when you

created the complex PDU.
Analyzing the OSI Model information, what changes occur in the Layer 3
information of the Out Layers column at Router1, PC2, and PC3?
The PDU becomes a unicast replying back to pc1.
e. Click Capture/Forward again. Does the broadcast PDU ever forward on to
Router2 or Router3? Why?
No, the limited broadcast should remain within the local network unless the
router is set to forward.

2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public.

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Packet Tracer - Investigate Unicast, Broadcast, and Multicast Traffic

f. After you are done examining the broadcast behavior, delete the test packet
by clicking Delete below Scenario 0.
Part 3: Investigate Multicast Traffic
Step 1:

Examine the traffic generated by routing protocols.

a. Click Capture/Forward. EIGRP packets are at Router1 waiting to be

multicast out of each interface.
b. Examine the contents of these packets by opening the PDU Information
window and click Capture/Forward again. The packets are sent to the two
other routers and the switch. The routers accept and process the packets,
because they are part of the multicast group. The switch will forward the
packets to the PCs.
c. Click Capture/Forward until you see the EIGRP packet arrive at the PCs.
What do the hosts do with the packets?
Reject and drop the packets.
Examine the Layer 3 and Layer 4 information for all of the EIGRP events.
What is the destination address of each of the packets?
224.0.0.10 the ip multicast address for the EIGRP routing protocol.
d. Click one of the packets delivered to one of the PCs. What happens to those
packets?
Packets are dropped.
No additional processing is done.
Based on the traffic generated by the three types of IP packets, what are the
major differences in delivery?

2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public.

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Packet Tracer - Investigate Unicast, Broadcast, and Multicast Traffic

Suggested Scoring Rubric

Activity Section
Part

1:

Unicast

Traffic

Question

Possibl

Earned

Location
Step 3a

e Points
10

Points

Step 3b

10

Step 3c

10

Step 1c

30
10

Step 1e

10

Step 1f

10

Part 1 Total
Part

2:

Broadcast

traffic
Part 2 Total

Part
traffic

3:

30
Step 1c,q1 10
Step

1c, 10

Multicast q2
Step

1d, 10

q1
Step

1d, 10

q2
Part 3 Total
Total Score

2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public.

40
100

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